If you have an iPhone 3G (or similar smart phone) you can surf to WWW.runpee.com right from your seat in the theater!
Then, you can check optimal pee times for your movie, and run pee during documented lulls in the action!
Is this a great country, or what?
Nothing is worse than having to go pee during a good movie. You never know what's coming, so when do you risk it?
Www.runpee.com is a site which lets you know when to go pee during a movie. For example, the optimal time for peeing during the new Star Trek movie is about 50 minutes into the movie, when Cpt. Pike leaves the bridge on his way to Nero's ship and says, "Chekov, you have the con." Other optimal pee times occur at 60, 80, and 100 minutes into the movie.
For Angels and Demons, the optimal pee time is one hour, ten minutes running when Robert and a Vatican guard are in the Vatican archives and the power goes out.
For the Hannah Montana movie, the advice is easy:
The site is actually a wiki. Anyone can enter pee information into the site. "runpee.com - Can you hold it?"
hxxp://runpee.com/
Dozens of gays and lesbians have been arrested and detained in Moscow, ahead of a march planned for Saturday night. The march was an attempt by the Russian gay community to attract attention to the issue of human rights, especially as it relates to gays. The march was to take advantage of the attention being focused on Moscow as it hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, which has a strong following amongst Europe's gay community.
Marchers were to rally at Novopushkinsky Park in central Moscow. Police barricaded the park with metal bars. As people began trickling into the area, they were arrested without explanation. The arrests included Nikolai Alexeyev, a prominent gay Russian activist, and his associate, Nikolai Bayev.
UK gay human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell wrote on his web site:
"This parade is in defense of human rights. We are defending the often violated human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Russians. They want legal protection against discrimination and hate crimes. I support their cause.
"Not all Russians are homophobic, but many are. Gay Russians suffer queer-bashing attacks, blackmail, verbal abuse and discrimination in education, housing and employment. This shames the great Russian nation."
hxxp://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/05/16/russia.gay.march.eurovision/index.html?eref=rss_world
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele today said that gay marriage would force small businesses to cover the cost of health care and benefits for more people, without improving business income.
"Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for," Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. "So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money."
Steele actually gave this as an example of how the Republican Party can BROADEN ITS APPEAL TO YOUNG VOTERS AND MINORITIES, "without sacrificing core conservative principles"! In other words, "We don't oppose gay marriage because we're hypocritical social bigots, we oppose it because it's bad for business!" And that will make young fiscal conservatives (who tend to be socially liberal) more supportive of the party!
Steele said he had used the argument on a college student who sat next to him on a plane flight. The college student described herself as "fiscally conservative" but "socially liberal on issues like gay marriage."
So, I take it that Steele and the Republicans are also opposed to heterosexual marriage, since that also forces small businesses to cover expenses for more than just employees.
The GOP is now struggling to broaden the appeal of the party. In recent years, the party has shrunk as it has moved to exclude more and more people who are not fudamentalist Christians.
hxxp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090516/ap_on_bi_ge/us_steele_republicans;_ylt=AuN6OLBA4ftk8RR5B2z4ed2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJuYm0ydWxiBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNTE2L3VzX3N0ZWVsZV9yZXB1YmxpY2FucwRjcG9zAzgEcG9zAzEyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3JuY2NoaWVmZ2F5bQ–
I think it's difficult to meet people, on-line or otherwise.
Gay.com is pretty aggressive. I got the impression that only guys wanting to have sex are on there.
You might try the personals on Craigslist. There are sections for romantic relationships, or just "platonic" friendship. Also, you can focus on people in your own city.
I have used mac os x, and linux (ubuntu, badger something? about 3 years ago). And I still prefer windows over those ones.
I think Breezy Badger may have been back before I was born!
^ Il Grande Punto è una macchina superiore!
Here is a comparison of the old 500 with the new. (During a trip to Italy, my sister once remarked that she intended to bring one of the old 500's home in her suitcase!)
Automotive writers have called it "possibly the best small car on the planet." Now, Chrysler chairman (for now) Robert Nardelli says the retro-cute Fiat 500 will be sold in the USA before the end of 2010. Since its re-introduction just two years ago, the 500 ("Cinquecento" in Italian - say "cheen kway CHAIN toh") has become one of Europe's more popular cars .
The car was first introduced by Fiat in 1957. In its original incarnation, it had a two-cylinder, rear-mounted engine which drove the rear wheels (ala Volkswagon Beetle and most other European cars of the time). "Suicide" doors opened from the front, to improve ease of access. The car was perfect for Italy's crowded cities and impossibly narrow streets. It sold better than any car Fiat had ever made. It became a quintessential symbol of Italy. By 1975, however, the car had become outdated, especially as Fiat had by then already introduced to the world by several years to a whole new concept in automotive drivetrains: transversely-mounted front engines driving the front wheels of the car (a Fiat engineering innovation which has taken the world by storm!). Production of the 500 stopped in 1975.
For the 50th anniversary of the 500, however, Fiat decided to resurrect the famous marque. On July 4, 2007, Fiat unveiled an all-new version of the 500. Although substantially larger than the original car (the wheelbase is almost two feet longer than the 1957 car), the new 500 is instantly recognizable as a Fiat 500. The retro-styling is faithful to the original design. Extraordinarily cute, the new 500 has taken Europe by storm in the last two years.
The new 500 is smaller than the BMW Mini-Cooper and the Toyota Yaris, but larger than the Mercedes Smart-for-Two. Due to tough new European crash requirements for small cars, the new 500 has an extraordinarily stiff frame, constructed of expensive vanadium steel. Seven airbags help shield occupants in a crash. Three powertrains are available in Europe: 1.2 L and 1.4 L gasoline-powered four cylinders, and a 1.3 L four-cylinder diesel. It is likely that only the 1.4 L gasoline four will come to the USA, however. That engine offers an impressive 131 lb-ft. of torque, 100 hp, and 36 mpg fuel economy! An "Abarth" sport version is available, and will likely also make the trip to America.
The 500 is already being sold in Mexico, where the basic model goes for $17,000. That includes the 1.4 L engine, A/C, ABS, AM/FM/CD player, bluetooth, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. That's expensive, but cheaper by far than either the Mini-Cooper or the Smart-for-Two. It is expected that the car will be sold in the USA through Chrysler's dealer network, as it's own "brand" (neither Fiat nor Chrysler badges will be applied).
Fiat expects to manufacture the 500 in the USA. However, it is almost certain that the first 500s sold in the USA will be manufactured in Fiat's Tychy, Poland plant. Here is a (very interesting) video of the cars being made in Poland (no sound, but notice how few human beings are involved in the assembly of these cars!):
hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH4CpONk0tg
Official Fiat 500 Promotional Video:
hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQgx2fgyuEs
I think Chrysler-Fiat will have a winner in the USA with the new 500. Its (relatively) high price will prevent it from becoming a best-seller, but it's likely to becme one of the more popular and economical "fun" cars available. Eric Reguly of England's Globe and Mail rocketed around Torino at 100 MPH in a 500 and afterward cried "Fiat has created a marvellous car, perhaps the best small car on the planet!"
hxxp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_500
hxxp://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/fiat_500_possib.php
They mistakenly assume that gays are pedophiles. It's not the same thing.
No one ever says they need to ban heteros because some people molest children of the opposite sex.
Hopefully, the psychologists they hire will inform them of these (pretty obvious) facts.
Seventeen year old Tyler Frost attends the fundamentalist conservative Baptist Heritage Christian School in Findlay, Ohio. He wanted to go to prom with his girlfriend at her public high school. However, Heritage Christian School does not permit students to participate in dancing, rock music, or hand-holding. They told Tyler he could be suspended for attending the prom.
Tyler went to the dance, anyway, saying he just doesn't see anything wrong with it. Heritage Christian School officials are now saying he could complete his final exams separately to receive his diploma. Tyler's stepfather says the fundamentalist school should not be able to discipline students for behavior outside of the school itself. He's threatening to take legal action if Tyler gets suspended.
hxxp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090510/ap_on_re_us/us_school_dance_flap;_ylt=AhOFOL2TdmUi_uTw8iDtWQas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJtdWswaHJnBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNTEwL3VzX3NjaG9vbF9kYW5jZV9mbGFwBGNwb3MDOQRwb3MDMTcEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDb2hpb3RlZW5leHBl
This reminds me of President Obama and Hillary Clinton.
In favor of civil unions, but not actually in favor of gay "marriage." And, in Clinton's case, she favors the right of states to deny both civil unions and marriage, if they choose.
I appreciate President da Silva's support. But, there is a long way to go, and much work yet to be done.
From what I've seen, the pictures the pageant (and others) are complaining about are really bland.
I personally wouldn't call it "nudity" (or even "topless") unless you can see parts you're not "supposed to." (Of course, there may be other pics out there I haven't seen.)
I agree she's more in trouble with the pageant for failing to fulfil her contractual obligations than for the "nudity" or her anti-gay views.
**Two things:
1: microsoft released the rc's and betas for previous windows, so nothing new in there.
2: it's still a beta. it might be release candidate, but it's still a beta.**
I appreciate that.
But the reason for the alphas and betas was precisely to fix stuff like this. And this isn't a "normal" release candidate. Windows 7 is just a tweaking of the Vista codebase - not a truly new version of Windows. So, they've had all of the alphas and betas of Vista, plus the three-year run of Vista, plus all of the alphas and betas of Windows 7 to get this right. What's more, other OSs (including the beta releases of those OSs) have had no trouble whatsoever with this hardwre.
I'm beginning to think they've got big problems at Microsoft.
As Ars Technica says:
To regain its strength, Microsoft has to do two things. First, it cannot let Windows 7 ship without the spit and polish that Windows Vista didn't get. When time hasn't been spent on refining the experience, the rough edges come to annoy customers. Everything put in the OS needs to be ready for prime time, or be left out. That's not a timing issue, but a philosophical one. Related to this, Microsoft must therefore not bite off more than it can chew.
hxxp://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2008/01/windows-7-in-2009-be-careful-what-you-wish-for.ars
As I said in my previous thread about W7, it's a whole lot better than Vista. M$ should be forced to give Vista users a free upgrade to W7.
The only thing worse in the RC version {7100} over the previous beta version {7057} I was using, is that I can't seem to keep the refresh rate at 75 hertz. It keeps switching back to 60 hertz. I'm not sure if this is due to the Nvidia beta driver for my graphics card {supplied through W7's update} or something to do with W7 itself.
I said above, "As always with Windows, it really shines with automatic installation of software and drivers." I think I may have to eat those worlds.
I've had a few hardware problems with the Win 7 RC. I still haven't been able to get sound, and just yesterday I discovered that Win 7 had failed to recognize a usb hub card plugged into the pci bus. That card powers the ports on the front of my computer, so I can't use flash drives or other usb peripherals unless I plug them into one of two ports on the back of the PC. Win 7 didn't recognize my TV tuner card, either. And it won't work with my bluetooth dongle.
I think they need to do a little work with the hardware drivers, before they release this thing.
The ability to maintain perfectly-gelled hair - regardless of the situation - is an ultimate measure of civilization.
Note that this is "free" for one year, but then you must pay Microsoft some undetermined (and probably large) amount of money to continue using the operating system. (Or, if you remember in time, you could re-install your previous operating system.)
This doesn't quite count as "free" in my book. I'll stick with what I have.
I had assumed that Microsoft's marketing plan was to give away use of the Win 7 Release Candidate for a year to get you "addicted" to it. Presumably, users might be more willing to cough up the cost of a Windows license if it saved them the hassle of backing up a year's worth of accumulated data and re-installing the OS and all apps. That doesn't seem to be Microsoft's strategy, however.
Microsoft will NOT allow the Win 7 RC to be upgraded to the final release when it becomes available. You must purchase a fresh copy of Windows 7 final and do a "clean" installation, over-writing your RC installation. So, you're going to have to back up everything and re-install some OS regardless.
Weirdly, however, Microsoft WILL provide an upgrade path for Vista users to "upgrade" to the Windows 7 RC. But that means that your Vista/Win7RC installation will start limiting you to no more than two-hour sessions effective 1 March 2010, and will stop functioning entirely on 1 June 2010. At that point, you'll be forced to do a clean install of something. You could fork over the cash for a copy of Win 7 final and install that. Or, you could dust off your old copy of Vista and re-install that. The latter would still force you to back up everything and re-install Vista and all your data and programs. Also, Windows Genuine Advantage will presumably demand that you phone Microsoft to get their permission to re-install your old Vista license.
Had you not "upgraded" Vista at all, you would have had a much easier time of it.
That's kind of a mess.
Carrie Prejean - the Miss California who opposes gay marriage and has been lobbying in Washington to stop gay marriage - has been caught out in a little white lie. Ms. Prejean told pageant officials that a topless photo of her which appeared on the Internet on Tuesday (5 May 2009) was the only such photo of her in existence. In the photo, she is seen wearing only pink rhinestone-studded panties and a smile.
"This was when I was 17 years old," Prejean, 21, wrote in an email to pageant officials. "I was a minor. It was when I was first getting into the modeling world, being naive, and young. I shouldn't have taken the photo of me in my underwear. There are no other photos of me. This was the only one I took."
Now, three additional topless photos of Prejean have appeared.
"I'm absolutely stunned," said pageant director Keith Lewis. "This completely changes things for us. Yesterday we thought she had explained things accurately. We need to revisit this issue with her."
Miss California lost the Miss USA competition to Miss North Carolina, Kristen Dalton. But she did achieve status as first runner-up. She famously (and somewhat arrogantly) has claimed she lost the competition only because her views on gay marriage are not widely shared by pageant officials. During the interview competition, she drew a question from Perez Hilton, the gay blogger, "Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalise same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?"
To which Prejean answered:
"I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what? I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."
Of course, it isn't true that gay Americans "are able to choose one or the other." And Prejean means to keep it that way.
Prejean annoyed pageant officials in April when she announced her intention to use her Miss USA first runner-up status to promote an anti-gay hate message. She announced that she will star in an anti-gay marriage advertisement sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay hate group. Prejean told NBC's Matt Lauer that she's "going to do whatever it takes to protect marriage."
"The National Organization for Marriage basically just respects, um, you know, marriages and people who support it," she said. "That's what I'm here to do today, protect traditional marriage."
Pageant officials do not feel that Prejean's anti-gay activities represent the Miss USA Pageant well. They have called Prejean "a disappointing opportunist."
**"In the entire history of the Miss USA, no reigning title holder has so readily committed her face and voice to a more divisive or polarizing issue," organizers said in a statement.
"We are deeply saddened Carrie Prejean has forgotten her platform of the Special Olympics, her commitment to all Californians, and solidified her legacy as one that goes beyond the right to voice her beliefs and instead reveals her opportunistic agenda."**
Prejean may well lose her status as both Miss California and first runner-up to Miss USA. She signed a contract in which she indicated she had never posed nude, and had conducted herself "in accordance with the highest ethical and moral standards." Pageant officials now know she lied with regard to the nudity, and they do not regard her anti-gay activism as necessarily acting "in accordance with the highest ethical and moral standards."
For her part, Prejean is defensive.
"I am not perfect, and I will never claim to be … I am a Christian, and I am a model. Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos."
hxxp://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/05/06/2009-05-06_miss_california_miss_usa_carrie_prejean_may_lose_her_crown.html
hxxp://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/04/30/2009-04-30_miss_california_carrie_prejean_goes_to_washington_to_fight_against_gay_marriage.html
Hilda Mecial is a short order grill cook at Las Palmas restaurant in Calixco, CA (just two blocks from the Mexican border). She found a stain on her grill that just would not come off. Upon closer inspection, Mecial realized the stain was an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe!
The Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe first appeared to peasant Juan Diego (now Saint Juan Diego) on 9 December 1531. The apparition occurred on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City.
From Wikipedia:
During a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen to sixteen, surrounded by light. This event occurred on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognised her as the Virgin Mary. When he told his story to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the bishop asked him to return and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed. There, he found Castilian roses (which were of the Bishop's native home, but not indigenous to Tepeyac). He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his tilma, or peasant cloak. When Juan Diego presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth of Diego's tilma.
Juan Diego's cactus-fiber cloak (aka "tilma") of 1531 survives today. The portion of the cloak containing the image has been framed, and it is on display at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico city.. The image of the virgin, apparently painted on the cloth, persists today.
Lest anyone think the "Virgin of the Grill" is not a miracle, appreciate that the apparition appeared on the grill on the Cinco de Mayo holiday!
In recent years, the Virgin seems to have preferred food-based appearances as opposed to other forms of apparition. On Feb. 23, 2007, Mary appeared on a baking pan at Pugh Elementary School on the East Side of New York City. In August 2006, Bodega Chocolates of Fountain Valley, CA found a piece of chocolcate in the factory that had hardened into the shape of the Virgin. On May 4, 2009, a Jewish reporter (albeit with Catholic relatives) for Cox Newspapers in Washington found a coffee stain on his desk in the shape of the Virgin!
I'd sell that grill top on e-bay. you could get enough to buy a whole new grill!
hxxp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103842132
Effective today, Maine joins four other American states which have legalized same-sex marriage. Gov. John Baldacci signed the legislation today less than an hour after the state legislature passed it.
"I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage," said Baldacci, a Democrat.
Maine now joins Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts in permitting gay marriage. Five American states represents a full 10% of states now permitting gay marriage. But, all but one of these are in New England. New Hampshire has legislation pending, as does Rhode Island.
Surprisingly, 54% of Americans polled by CNN in late April said gay marriage should NOT be made legal in the USA, while 44% felt it should be allowed. Among 18 to 34 year olds, however, 60% of those polled favor legalization of gay marriage.
hxxp://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/maine.same.sex.marriage/index.html
Deadness of soul is the only unpardonable crime, and if there is one thing happiness can do it is mask deadness of soul.
I finally know now, as I easily knew then, that the most important thing is love.
Brilliant!